Notes

Data Advisory Group (DAG)

Date 24 March 2011 Venue London Councils, Room 4 Meeting Chair Nick Brenton Contact Officer: Glyn Parry Telephone: 02079349730 Email: glyn.parry@londoncouncils.gov.uk

Attendees:

Nick Brenton (Chair) Association of London Directors of Children’s Services Gareth Ashcroft Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) Parmjit Sahons London Borough of Hounslow Rob Atkins London Borough of Islington Dave Pether Connexions London West Clare Oatham National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) Phil Rossiter London Borough of Wandsworth Margaret Brightman London Borough of Lewisham Andrew Pearse Westminster City Council Michelle Harris London Borough of Southwark Andrew Mackey London Borough of Hackney Kate Welsh London Borough of Greenwich Eryl Shaw London Borough of Lambeth Mark Urban London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Alim Abdul London Borough of Harrow Kuljit Bisal London Borough of Harrow Glyn Parry (note taker) 14-19 Regional Planning Group (RPG)

Items 1. Welcome and introductions

1.1 The group greeted new members and welcomed the increased local authority (LA) representation.

Item 2. Notes of the last meeting

2.1 The notes of the last meeting (12 November 2010) were agreed – all actions have been completed or are underway.

Item 3. RPG remit/policy developments

3.1 GP informed the DAG that following the RPG Review, the Board has agreed to change the RPG’s name to London Councils: Young People’s Education and Skills. All branding online will change on 08 April 2011. The new constitution will be formally agreed at the next Board meeting and published on the London Councils website; a current draft is available on the 3.2 GP summarised the revised role of the Young People’s Education and Skills team as follows:-

- To provide pan-London leadership for 14-19 education and training provision in relation to the current and future need of learners and employers
- To support local authorities in undertaking their statutory functions
- To assist other stakeholders in planning, policy and provision

3.3 GP tabled a paper to the DAG setting out all the responses relating to data that were gathered in the RPG Review. RA stressed the importance of distinguishing between the roles of the RPG and YPLA concerning data, which could sometimes be fuzzy. The meeting agreed that the YPLA’s role was primarily concerned with the provision of data, whilst RPG’s was centred on signposting and analysis of the data.

**AP1:** GA and GP to ensure clarity over the YPLA and RPG’s role concerning data is evident in relevant communications/projects

**Item 4. YPLA data offer**

4.1 GA summarised the data offer that will be made available to local authorities in 2011. A selection of reports will be produced under three themes (understanding the learning landscape/achievement and progression/participation of young people) staggered over the course of the year to coincide with the timeliness of data. Full details are in the briefing note circulated to the group prior to the meeting:

http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/London%20Councils/Item4YPLADataOffer.DOC.pdf

4.2 The narrative reports will be a concise summary spread over four pages. They will initially be shared on the Provider Gateway, and released on the YPLA website at a later date. GA confirmed that Academies and Learners with Learning Difficulties or Disabilities (LLDD) data will be included in the narrative reports, and that out-of-borough figures will be covered in the residency reports (even for boroughs bordering London).

4.3 The YPLA will also develop future data releases by:

- Adopting new visualisation tools
- Launching an ‘extranet’ to replace the Provider Gateway
- Scoping the possibility of segmenting the recipients of data into relevant groups
- Improving the transparency of allocations data (especially success rates) by creating an ‘Open Book’ of data to work with schools to improve its quality

4.4 The group emphasised the importance of involving relevant LA staff in the Open Book exercise as well as staff within schools.

**AP2:** GA to ensure that the YPLA communicates with relevant LA staff in regard to the Open Book exercise

4.5 GP raised the issue that the school success rates on the YPLA website (published as a result of a journalist’s Freedom of Information Act request) were now out-of-date, and requested that they should be replaced with the final rates that were used for the allocations.

**AP3:** GA to pass the request back to the relevant YPLA staff and alert the group of the outcome 4.6 NB asked what the plans were to share data related to the careers service. DP confirmed that Connexions would also produce residency based data and NEET data would be produced for the academic year. A reduced collection of management information (MI) would be published.

Item 5. RPG data analysis

5.1 GP summarised the activity planned by the RPG to support LAs in their use of data. Two key workstrands were identified and agreed to by the DAG:

- 14-19 and London, An Evidence Base: consisting of the three pan-London narratives plus supplementary evidence captured over the course of the spring and summer
- Intelligent London: a data portal on the London Councils website devoted to opening-up data related to young people, their education and progression through to employment and presenting it in accessible/appealing ways

**AP4:** GP to work with the YPLA to complete each of the three pan-London narratives, compile any supplementary evidence, and produce the full Evidence Base by September 2011

**AP5:** GP to continue to develop the Intelligent London website and provide access to DAG members for a pilot testing stage

**AP6:** GP to set-up an online forum space for DAG on the Communities of Practice website and send an invite to the forum to all members

Item 6. RPG data projects

6.1 **16-18 modelling:** The Greater London Authority (GLA) Data Management and Analysis Group (DMAG) were commissioned by the RPG over a year ago to complete a 16-18 student modelling exercise. GP updated the group that DMAG still hasn’t produced any outputs despite formal letters and emails requesting that the work is completed. DMAG did commit to delivering the work by 18 March 2011 in their last communication but this deadline was missed.

**AP7:** RPG to escalate the issue within the GLA and explore the possibility of requesting the return of the £20,000 paid to the GLA for the project

**AP8:** NB to contact the DMAG team to apply further pressure on them to deliver

6.2 **Special Educational Needs (SEN)/LLDD data:** GP updated the group on the progress of the SEN cohort mapping project. The National Pupil Dataset (NPD) team has now provided the SEN, School Action and School Action Plus year group cohort (years 7-11) numbers from 2006/07 – 2009/10. The YPLA has conducted an initial analysis of Key Stage 4 Year 11 learner numbers.

**AP9:** GP to work with the YPLA to produce the historic year group learner numbers for years 7-11 between 2006/07 – 2009/10. This dataset can then be used as the basis for creating projections for post-Year 11 LLDD numbers

6.3 **Travel to Success:** GP confirmed that the Travel to Success project had been completed. DAG fed back how useful the data had been and that the packs had been well received in LAs.

Item 7. Any other business

7.1 DAG discussed the future of the Choice website and what will happen to the data contained within it.

**AP10:** GP to find out more information regarding the future of Choice and data connected to it and inform DAG 7.2 GP raised the issue of ensuring that there were adequate numbers of Provider Gateway users in each LA, since this is the main route through which LAs will access the data provided by the YPLA and that many current users may be leaving LAs as a result of re-structuring.

**AP11:** GA to provide GP with a list of all current Provider Gateway users and compare it to RPG’s record of who is leaving LAs to determine which LAs may need to assign new users to the Gateway

7.3 GA informed the DAG that the current Data Protocol each individual LA has with the YPLA will expire at the end of March. The YPLA and RPG are working together to create one overall new Data Protocol that can be signed by RPG on behalf of all LAs (as was done with the Skills Funding Agency). The DAG agreed that this approach was sensible and should be pursued.

**AP12:** GP and GA to work together to agree a revised Data Protocol to be signed by the RPG